SERMON: YOUR DEFINING MOMENT

Preached by Gregory W. Lee
14 January 2007

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to John 2

1. On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there,
2. and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
3. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4. "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come."
5. His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6. Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
8. Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so,
9. and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
10. and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."
11. This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

-- this morning, we are going to talk about defining moments -- those moments in our life that change us -- move us -- define who and what we are about -- our lives are made up of many of these, but there will usually be one major defining moment that sets the pace of our life or that changes who we are or what we are doing
-- let me give you an example from my own life -- after I got saved, who I was changed, but what I was doing didn't drastically change -- I still played at going to church -- I still played at reading the Bible -- I'd go through periods of time when I would go to church a lot -- when I would pray and read the Bible a lot -- but then I'd have periods where I wouldn't
-- this continued even after I got married until the time we moved up to Tennessee -- in 1997, I was invited to attend a Promise Keepers event at the University of Tennessee -- and that event was my defining moment -- God touched me through the speakers and through the singing and through the fellowship with 40,000 other men in that place
-- I recommitted my life to the Lord that day and I began to get serious about God - - I started really getting in the word -- I got heavily involved in Bible Study Fellowship and I started really trying to live for God -- I can tell you that I am standing behind this pulpit today because of my own personal defining moment -- the time when I was touched through the Promise Keepers event

-- another term that we use for these defining moments is an "epiphany" -- as we said last week when we celebrated the Day of Epiphany, an epiphany is when something is revealed or made known or shown -- so, an epiphany is that moment -- that defining moment -- when who or what you are is revealed or made known
-- in the church, we use this season of Epiphany to examine and celebrate the ways Christ was made known in the Bible -- the ways His divinity and His glory and His majesty were revealed in His life -- and we look at ways we can continue to make Him known in our day
-- this passage from John is one of those defining moments in the life of Christ -- it's a passage that all of us probably know really well -- even non-Christians can tell you that Jesus turned water to wine -- we even joke about it
-- I remember hearing a joke about this priest who is pulled over by the cops for weaving on the road -- when the cop came to the door, he asked the priest, "Have you been drinking?" -- the priest replied, "No sir, I've just been sipping water from this thermos" -- the cop said, "Let me see that thermos" -- and he took a sniff and said, "This isn't water -- this is wine" -- the priest crossed himself and said, "Praise God, He did it again"

-- like I said, we are all familiar with this story of Jesus turning water into wine -- but a lot of times, we stop right there -- we don't take the story any further and we tend to get caught up in the physical act of the miracle itself -- we miss the importance of what actually happened that day -- yes, Jesus is the God of joy -- yes, Jesus is the God of abundance -- but He didn't just turn water into wine so the party could keep going on -- He did it for another reason
-- this story, the first miracle of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of John, is Jesus' defining moment -- it is His "coming out" party in a way, because through this mighty act, He revealed to His followers just who He was and why He had come
-- so, this morning, I want to spend some time looking at this passage in a little more detail

II. Context
-- before we get into this passage, though, let me share with you the context -- the wedding feast that John describes here occurred just days after he met Jesus -- John and Peter and John's brother James were disciples of John the Baptist -- one day, while they were with John the Baptist, Jesus came walking by -- John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world"
-- John and Peter and James started following Jesus -- they had been with Him for only a little while when they went and got Andrew, Peter's brother, and brought him to Jesus, too -- all four of them spent the day with Him -- the next day as they journeyed along, Jesus invited Philip to follow Him -- and Phillip invited Nathanael to come
-- Nathanael didn't want to come at first, but he became convinced that Jesus was from God because Jesus told Nathanael that He had seen him while he studied under the fig tree -- Nathanael was amazed -- and Jesus told him in John 1:50, "You are amazed at that -- You shall see even greater things than that" -- Jesus was getting Nathanael and the others ready for what was about to happen

III. Scripture Lesson
-- look back at verse 1

1. On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there,
2. and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

-- John tells us that Jesus and His disciples were invited to attend a wedding with Jesus' mother at Cana in Galilee, a small town about 12 miles north of Nazareth
-- John said this occurred on the "third day" -- we're not really sure what he means by this -- he might mean it was the third day after they had met Jesus or it might have been the third day of the wedding feast
-- wedding banquets were the most festive occasions in the world of first-century Palestine -- outside of the annual pilgrimages to the temple to celebrate the three high holy days in Judaism, weddings were about the only entertainment peasants living in the country of Israel had to look forward to -- these events normally lasted seven days -- and they featured dancing and wine and vast quantities of food -- normally, peasants in that day and time did not have much to eat -- meat would have been a luxury -- but at a wedding feast, the host laid out a banquet, complete with copious amounts of meat and vegetables and sweets -- this was an event that everyone would have looked forward to and everyone would have attended -- and the host and the bridal party would be judged based on the extravagance of the affair
-- so, it may have been in the middle of this wedding feast -- on the third day -- when Jesus' mother came to Him and said, "they have no more wine"

-- look back now at verse 3

3. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4. "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come."
5. His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

-- running out of wine in the middle of a wedding feast would have been a disaster for the hosts -- it would have been a serious loss of honor -- and it would have cast a negative impression on the bride and groom and their new family -- in other words, it would have been a bad way to start a marriage
-- so Mary comes to Jesus and tells Him that they have run out of wine -- as we read it, it seems like Jesus responds rather harshly to Mary -- the NIV softens it a little, and has Jesus respond to her, "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" -- but the King James Version makes it a little more harsh, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" -- it almost seems like Jesus is rebuking Mary, almost insulting her with His tone, and telling her to leave it alone -- but Mary doesn't take it that way -- she tells the servants to get ready and to do whatever Jesus tells them to do
-- verse 6

6. Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
8. Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so,
9. and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
10. and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

-- so Jesus has the servants go get some stone jars that were standing nearby -- He had them filled with water to the brim -- and then He changed the water into wine while they were carrying it to the master of the banquet

III. What does it mean?
-- "This was clearly a miracle, but it didn't save a life -- it didn't still a storm -- it merely saved a host from embarrassment" [LaHaye and Jenkins] -- on the other hand, it do so much more -- but what? -- Why did Jesus choose to do this seemingly mundane miracle?
-- living 2000 years after the fact -- having the ability to read scriptures and the teachings about Jesus handed down by His disciples and faithful men and women through the years -- we know who Jesus was -- we know why He came -- we know that He was born to die -- that He was God incarnate -- God in man -- and that He came to die on the cross to save our lives
-- and so when we read this passage, it doesn't shock us -- it doesn't seem out of character for Jesus to do that -- and that's why we have to read it in context
-- keep in mind that at this point, John and the other disciples have only known Jesus for about three days -- all they know about Him was that John the Baptist called Him the Lamb who was to take away the sins of the world -- I have no doubt that they had no clue what John the Baptist was meaning -- at this point they didn't know about the manger and the virgin birth -- at this point they didn't know about His miraculous healings and His teaching with authority -- at this point they didn't know about the cross and the empty tomb
-- all they knew was that they had found a man -- a rabbi -- a teacher -- who just might be the Messiah king who would rule Israel and run the Romans out of town -- they weren't looking for a miracle worker -- and they weren't looking for a God
-- but Jesus knew why He was there -- He knew why God had sent Him and He knew how His ministry was to be played out on earth -- there was a time and a place and a method to God's plan in Jesus' life
-- that is why when Mary came to Jesus and told Him, "They are out of wine," He replied, "My time has not yet come"
-- but something happened with her request that made Him change His mind -- perhaps it was a word from the Father -- perhaps it was a prompting from the Holy Spirit -- or perhaps it was the faith of his earthly mother -- when the wedding ran out of wine, Mary knew who to turn to -- and Mary had so much faith in Jesus, that she told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do
-- and that moment -- that breath between Jesus saying, "It's not my time" and Mary telling the servants to get ready -- that was Jesus' defining moment -- that was the moment it became "His time" -- that was the moment, as it says in verse 11, that Jesus displayed His glory

-- the word "glory" refers to that which defines a person -- it means their honor -- their dignity -- it means the thing that makes someone important -- by choosing to display His power over creation by transforming water into wine, Jesus revealed His "glory" -- He revealed Himself -- to His disciples
-- at that moment, John says they recognized Jesus for who He was -- and they put their faith in Him

-- but, in addition to revealing to His disciples who He was, Jesus also used this opportunity to reveal why He had come -- no, He didn't tell them about the cross -- He didn't share with them about the resurrection -- but He pointed to His mission on earth in the way He transformed the water into wine
-- Jesus could have done this in many ways -- but He told the servants to get the ceremonial stone jars that were standing there and to fill them with water -- this is significant -- part of the Jewish religious traditions and rites involved the ceremonial cleansing of the body by washing with water -- these jars would have held water that the wedding guests would have used to wash their hands and feet before the feast
-- so, by taking these stone jars, Jesus took something that was part of the old tradition -- He took one of the Jewish religious rites -- and He transformed it into something better -- He took the water that symbolically cleansed and He turned it into wine -- something that He would use later to represent His own blood, that would cleanse us once and for all
-- in turning the water into wine, Jesus pointed to the cross -- in turning the water into wine, Jesus pointed to the transformation that He was going to make possible in our lives -- the transformation from sin to righteousness -- in turning water to wine, Jesus revealed to His disciples and to us exactly why He had come

IV. Closing
-- John tells us in verse 11 that this was the first of Jesus' miraculous signs -- a miracle or sign means nothing on its own -- it serves another purpose
-- seeing a sign is an invitation to believe -- and this miracle of turning water into wine was a sign that revealed to the disciples who Jesus was and why He had come -- and, as a result, they placed their faith in Him
-- and, it is a call for us to make a choice -- to make a decision -- to come to a defining moment in our own lives -- in turning water into wine, Jesus showed us that He was more than just a man -- He was God incarnate -- and that He came to save us from our sins
-- He came and lived and died so that we might be transformed -- He came to offer us an invitation -- an invitation to attend a wedding feast with Him -- the wedding feast of the Lamb -- where the wine never runs out and where the best is saved for last
-- I want to close this morning with the words from a song called "Your Defining Moment" by a local contemporary Christian group called "Newsong"

-- there comes a time in every heart -- a time of real decision -- when we reach the point of choosing -- how we will live our lives
-- all our hopes -- all our dreams -- will rise up from that moment -- the moment we surrender and choose to follow Christ
-- He's been waiting all our lives -- to hear us say -- "I am yours, Lord -- take my hand and lead the way" -- when you believe, He's all you need -- that will be your defining moment -- as you live your life walking in HIs light -- trusting Him completely -- that will be your defining moment

-- in this passage -- in this defining moment of Christ -- as He reveals to us who He is and why He has come -- He is inviting us to make a defining moment of our own -- to choose to believe -- to choose to love -- to choose Him as our Lord and Savior
-- maybe you've never accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior -- He is inviting you to do so right now -- if He can transform water into wine, He can surely transform you into the person God has called you to be
-- and maybe you are somewhat like I was -- you've been just playing church -- you've been just playing with God -- you're saved -- of that, there's no doubt -- but you have yet to truly commit yourself and your life and all that you are to Him -- if that is the case, Christ invites you to come as well -- to do just that -- and to truly put your faith in Him in all areas
-- whatever you need to do this morning, I pray that you will respond to God's word as you feel led -- and that this day will go down in your life as your defining moment